A Pakistani court yesterday disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting a by-election for a seat in the National Assembly later this week, deepening political uncertainty in the country.
Ever since Mr Sharif returned home from eight years in exile last November, he has been crystal clear in his intention to drive his usurper, President Pervez Musharraf, from power.
Mr Sharif was barred from running in a general election in February because he had been convicted for the 1999 hijacking of then army chief General Musharraf's plane, an action that triggered the military coup that overthrew him.
Mr Sharif's party was runner-up in the February vote to the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the late Benazir Bhutto, another former Prime Minister who returned from exile late last year only to be assassinated in December while campaigning for the poll.
Having trounced the pro-Musharraf parties, the PPP and Mr Sharif's party forged a post-election alliance.
Mr Sharif pulled his ministers out of the Cabinet after just six weeks, as Mrs Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, reneged on a commitment to swiftly reinstate judges whom President Musharraf had dismissed during a brief phase of emergency rule late last year.
While Mr Sharif's party has maintained support for the government, without being part of it, there is speculation that, once President Musharraf goes, the post-election alliance will break completely as Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari will battle for power.
While Mr Sharif has said Mr Musharraf should be impeached or tried for treason, Mr Zardari wants to ease President Musharraf out in a less confrontational manner to avoid more upheaval in the country.
The PPP has drafted a constitutional package that would take away most of the President's powers.
Uncertainty over Mr Musharraf's position and infighting within the coalition have prolonged the sense of instability that has gripped the nuclear-armed nation since President Musharraf tried to fire the country's top judge in March, 2007.
That move set in train a series of events that led to the defeat of Mr Musharraf's allies in February and rendered him increasingly isolated and unpopular.
Mr Sharif had been cleared by the Election Commission to contest the by-elections due on Thursday, but yesterday a high court in the eastern city of Lahore again barred him from running.
"The decision is based on a conspiracy. It's a political decision," Mr Sharif's party spokesman Siddiqul Farooq told Reuters.
A prosecution lawyer said the court did not immediately give any reason for its decision.
Members of the Punjab provincial assembly marched down Lahore's main thoroughfare chanting anti-Musharraf slogans to protest the court's ruling.
Sharif's party controls the provincial government in Punjab, the richest and most powerful of Pakistan's four provinces. US ally President Musharraf has so far resisted calls for his resignation, and his fate, along with the related issue of the reinstatment of the judges, has preoccupied a fragile coalition faced with mounting economic difficulties and the threat of militant violence. Fears that Pakistan's new civilian leaders will mess up their chance to govern have been reflected in a crisis in investor confidence that has wiped almost 30 per cent off share values in the last two months.